Lessons from my Mom

My Mom and me at 18 for Grad. She made this awesome velvet and taffeta dress!

My appreciation of fabrics and fit started early for me. Some of my best childhood memories are digging through the large bag of fabric scraps that my mom kept for us girls to play with. I spent hours on end wrapping and tying these on my Barbies, creating fashions of every sort.

My mother was always a talented and meticulous seamstress. A skill grown out of necessity and blossomed into a great talent. We didn’t have the luxury of riches but when a special occasion arrived, my sisters and I were sure to have the most unique dresses inspired by dogeared magazines or sometimes drawings. And she never seemed to scrimp on the material. I still love wandering through fabric stores, feeling the silks and velvets, testing the weight, gathering and checking the sheen and drape, imagining the finished creation.

Her attention to fit and detail inspires me everyday in my styling work. There was always a moment of carefully slipping out of a garment, half way through its creation, so as not to get pricked by the pins placed to ensure the perfect fit.

She instilled the value in me, that the cost or label of an item isn’t important. Only how that piece makes you feel. And the treasures she created for me will always make me feel like a million bucks!